Weight-lifting device



Aug. 25, 1925. 1,551,132 E., M. BUTLER -WEIGHT LIFTING DEVICE Filed June 6, 1921 ITTGPACY Patented Aug. 25, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDGAR M. BUTLER, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO ANNA M. BUTLER, OE LARCHMONT, NEW YORK.

WEIGHT-LIFTING DEVICE.

Application fil-ed .Tune 6, 1921.

T0 all whom it 'may concern:

Be it known that I, EDGAR M. BUTLER, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York city, borough of Brooklyn, in' the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Weight-Lifting Device, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is a weight lifting device so constructed and organized as to enable it for various uses, but particularly by garage owners, automobile repairmen, etc., although it is adapted for general application.

In the preferred form of the invention, it is so constructed that it may be used as a portable lifting crane about a garage or factory, and, as such, may be readily moved about from one place to another in a factory or workshop on a wheeled base with' which it may be associated or disassociated in a simple and efficient manner. When the device is disassociated with the wheeled base, its construction is such as to render it capable of ready and expeditious attachment or mounting on a motor vehicle of the well known trouble car type, after which it may be employed to advantage as a lifting crane for hoisting or lifting disabled cars or for towing purposes. The lifting device of the present invention is so constructed that aside from the two particular uses specified, it is capable of efficient employment for the carrying out of the func tions shown and described in detail in my copending application Serial No. 415,237, filed October 7 1920, freight car unloading device.

It will thus be apparent that the device under consideration is adapted for universal use and for the accomplishment of many purposes which render it highly useful in the carrying out of many kinds of work which garage men are called upon to daily undertake.

In its preferred practical form, the in vention embodies a rigid beam, which is adapted to be supported in an inclined position by a stepped or strut member secured to the beam intermediate its ends. This strut member is adapted to seat on a wheeled base, freight car top, automobile body floor or other rm support and the lower end of the beam firmly secured in position to such iirm support, so as to prevent pivotal or Serial No. 475,226.

tilting movement of the "beam on the strut member. The beam is provided at its outer or upper end with a directional sheave or i different practical embodiments, but the.

constructions shown therein are to be understood as illustrative, only, and not as defining the limits of the invention.

Figure 1 shows the present invention aslsoociated with a portable wheeled carriage 0r ase.

Figure 2 shows the invention as associated with a vehicle chassis to enable its use as a lifting crane of a trouble car; and,

Figure 3 is a section on the line 3 3 of Figure 2 showing the manner of attachment.

Referring to the drawings, 5 designates a rigid beam which may, in practice, be of any material or shape but may conveniently be of Lbeam construction. To one end of the beam, a casting 6 is shown as riveted firmly in place by rivets 7 and this casting carries one or more pulleys or sheaves 8 mounted for rotation on a spindle 9.

Firmly secured on the beam intermediate its ends is any suitable form of winch 10 shown in the drawings as embodying a pair of brackets 11 between which are mounted on parallel shafts a gear l2 and a spur gear 13. A crank 111 is associated with the gear 12 and a winding drum is associated with the gear 13. About the drum 13 is adapted to be coiled a cable or line 15, which may be led over one of the sheaves 8 and to a lifting block 16, thence upwardly and over the other sheave 8 and to the block 16 where it is secured. The block 16 is shown as provided with a hook 17 to permit of its ready engagement with the article to be lifted. The sheaves 8 and the block 16 may vary from the form illustrated in the drawings without departing from the invention, but the construction shown is highly practical and efiicient in its operation. By operating the crank 14, the block 16 may be raised or lowered which will be apparent to those familiar with cranes and the like.

The beam 5 is provided intermediate its ends with a plurality of perforations through any one of which passes a bolt 18 extending through the forked upper portion of a casting 19 constituting the head of a stepped or strut member 20. The strut member may be formed in any desired manner, but is shown as built up of strap metal, so as to embody a substantially A-shaped or triangular form. Across the base of the strut extends a base member 21, which is riveted to the uprights 22 at 23 and a brace 24 may be interposed between the uprights and riveted in place to render the strut member rigid. The head 19 is secured to the uprights by rivets 25.

The beam 5 may be supported by the strut 20 by raising the base member 21 of the strut on any suitable firm support, and while the beam is, in fact, mounted on the bolt 18 as a fulcrum, said beam may be secured against pivotal or tilting movement on the strut by anchoring or tying down the after end of the beam. Any suitable means may be employed for this purpose, but, in practice, I find it convenient to rivet a plate 26 to the after end of the beam 5 and perforate this plate, so that a bolt may be passed through a rigid support and through such perforation to anchor the beam in an inclined position, so that its upper end will be of such elevation as to permit of the lifting of articles secured to the hook 17.

The device as thus far described may be used as hereinbefore stated for numerous purposes and in Figure 1, the same is shown as associated with a portable carriage of novel construction and particularly adapted for mounting the device, so that it may by conveniently employed as a hoisting crane about a garage. When used in this manner, it is found in practice to be of considerable service in the lifting of an engine out of a chassis or the raising of car bodies ofi1 chassis or the lifting of chassis so as to permit operators to work beneath the same.

In the novel form of carriage shown in Figure 1, the same is constructed in V-shape form. The sills 27 may be conveniently formed from flat iron, said sills being se cured together at the apex of the V by plates 28 firmly riveted to the flanges of the channelled section. Wheels or rollers 29 are associated with the free ends of tht sills and a third roller 30 is mounted on the plate 28. Superimposed on the plate 28 is a bracket 31 provided with a slot 32 adapted to receive the anchoring plate 26 of the beam 5 and a bolt 33 is adapted to be passed through the arms of the bracket and through the perforation in thev anchoring plate, to secure said plate in position. The strut member 20 is adapted to rest upon the sills 27 as shown in Figure l and seat between brackets 34 secured to said sills.

I have found in practice that the weight of a beam bearing down on the strut 20 will firmly hold the strut in position against shifting on the sills 27 in a lateral direction, so that it is unnecessary to mechanically secure the strut to the sills. It may be simply set in position and the weight of the parts will hold it in place.

It will thus be apparent that in associating the lifting device of this invention with a novel form of carriage, shown in Figure 1, it is only necessary to use one bolt indicated at 33 to anchor down the after end of the beam and when it is desired to remove the device from the carriage, it is only necessary to remove this single bolt. This renders the device readily mountable and demountable with respect to the carriage and enables the mounting or dismantling of the same in a most expeditious and easy manner.

I do not wish to be understood as limiting the invention to the securing of the beam to the carriage by a single bolt, as more than one bolt may be employed, if desired, without departing from this invention and other forms of attaching means may be substituted.

When the present invention is employed as shown in Figure 1, the construction is such that the device may be readily removed from the carriage and be positioned upon a motor car for the purpose of adapting said car for use as a trouble car. If the device is removed from the carriage and set on the floor of a motor car body, as shown in Figure 2, the strut will simply loosely seat on the floor of the car while the anchoring plate 26 is bolted to a bracket 31a in the same general manner as it was bolted to the bracket 31 in the construction of Figure 1. The bracket 31a may be of any suitable form and may be conveniently secured in permanent position on the Hoor of the vehicle by bolts 35, after the manner shown in Figure 3. The bolt 33 used in the construction of Figure 1 may be employed in securing the device to the vehicle.

It will thus be apparent that without the expenditure of any appreciable amount of time or labor, the device of this invention may be employed as a portable lifting crane about a garage or may be installed on a motor car for outside service and this change may be made in the preferred form of the invention by merely changing one bolt. The device thus stands out in marked contradistinction to the cumbersome and unwieldy devices heretofore employed with their complicated attaching means and comprising a large number of bolts, angle irons, rivets etc.

Aside from the uses referred to, as shown in Figures l and 2, the device is capable of satisfactory employment in carrying out the invention as described and claimed in detail in my application Serial No. 415,237 aforesaid. In this latter use, however, a short length of beam is preferably bolted to the beam 5, so as to extend its length and better t it for its use.

Having thus; fully described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A lifting device embodying a rigid beam provided intermediate its ends with a depending strut member having a relatively wide base, a winch mounted on the beam, a lifting tackle associated with one end of the beam and connected with the winch so that the lifting tackle may be operated when the winch is actuated, and attaching means associated with with the other end of the beam for anchoring said end against lifting when the beam is supported in inclined position on the strut member, in combination with a substantially V-shaped wheeled carriage adjacent the apex o-f which the after end of the beam is detachably anchored, and saddles positioned intermediate the ends of the sills and in which, the wide base of the strut member is detachably seated.

In testimony whereof I have signed the foregoing specification.

EDGAR M. BUTLER. 

